Goodare studied at the
University of Edinburgh in the 1980s, afterwards engaged as a postdoctoral fellow. He lectured at the
University of Wales, and at the
University of Sheffield. He returned to work at Edinburgh in 1998. He was the co-director of the
Survey of Scottish Witchcraft alongside
Louise Yeoman. Goodare has published articles and book chapters on crown finance in the early modern period. Subjects include the administration known as the
Octavians, and the annual sums of money which
Elizabeth I gave
James VI of Scotland, which he argues ought to be known as the
English subsidy. He explored the significance of the "
Ainslie Bond", made in support of the
Earl of Bothwell, in the light of
Jenny Wormald's work on comparable
bonds. ==Publications==